Bluing Your Linear Rails EASY!

Easily cold blue your linear rails for appearance and rust prevention
I NOW HAVE A TWITTER, follow me @ / 3dpnero
vorondesign.com/ for all things voron and links to the discord
Purchase an SKR mini e3 via banggood via my affilate link and help support the channel
www.banggood.com/custlink/333...

[@mtraven23]

1) you do know that blueing is, itself a controlled rust? I mention this because blueing is going to shoot the slide tolerance to shit. The "blue" is going to wear off where the balls runs and those rails are going to be prematurely sloppy. Not a price I would be willing to pay for them to look pretty.
2) blueing does not provide rust protection. It creates a patina (surfaces roughness) that will hold oil. Wax or polish would be a better option for rush protection.
3) I have done a bit of blueing, your method for doing blue is solid.
Moral of the story, blueing parts of this tolerance is a bad idea.

[@andrewjamez]

This could be a good thing as a lot of cheap chinese rails are already too tight

[@mtraven23]

@@andrewjamez I wasn't aware stock rails were too tight?
problem is, the blueing will, initially, make them tighter (rust swells)...then you will have to wear them in, which will happen more rapidly since you've blued them, but also more inconsistently.
at the end of the day, you've traded a tight slide that would have work itself in, for rail whose ground surface is now pitted.
if they are really that tight, send em back.

[@sigterm15]

@@mtraven23 well this is typical for Nero 3D. he has zero mechanical knowledge nor education.

[@KepperKleen]

1. It's not going to shoot the slide tolerance to shit at all. bluing these rails will add at most 2.5 micrometers. this is more than acceptable for crappy no name rails and carriages bought from china where the ball bearings are consistently out of tolerance to begin with.
2. The "blue" is going to wear off where the balls runs - correct
3. those rails are going to be prematurely sloppy - incorrect, slop will not appear sooner because bluing was applied
4. bluing does not provide rust protection - incorrect - it provides some protection, but is negligible, depending the environment.

[@mtraven23]

@@KepperKleen your own logic is broken. #2 & #3 cannot coexists.
if you blue something it swells, if you remove that material, you are left with something smaller, hence my prediction of premature wear.
and 2.5 um is about the difference between the spacer balls & the load balls. Yes I know most of these cheapies use only one size ball, but the point stands.
#4 just seems pedantic.
and I'll add another reason not to do this, maybe the most practical: blueing significantly damages the surface finish of the rail. That WILL lead to premature wiper failure. and, if not replace, the ingress of debris will destroy the whole assembly in short order.

[@jezdimir2007]

There doesn't seem much need to add too much considering I'm late to the party but a few of the comments reflect a poor understanding of the process. First, this cold bluing. Selenic acid and copper sulphate from memory. It offers virtually no protection from rust and basically used as a touch up to a proper hot bluing surface finish. It's an acid etch so one couldn't claim it reduces tolerances. In a firearms application it tends to promote rust. Hot bluing is a controlled corrosion process. It effective in reducing rust due to its oxide surface being able to hold oil and the fact that its already a corroded surface (its hard to rust rust).
As far as affecting critical tolerances, it's barely worth your consideration. The little drag that may develop against tightly toleranced slideways will wear back in rather quickly, or you can give it a light burnish with 000 steel wool and a little oil.
Cold and hot blue, other than the resulting colour bare no resemblance to each other.
As a machinist and formally a professional gunsmith, there's my 2 cents.

[@jonjonsson6323]

Mark wich side was wich though , some rails just fit better on one sode of the wagon for a tolerance thing

[@muhammadghazrudynghazali9107]

Try Corrosion X lubricant, they also got polar bonding and rust inhibitors to prevent rust forming up.

[@NauTzZz]

first time I learned about bluing. Thanks

[@98nchen]

very cool

[@deus164]

it's better to use 0000 steel wire than a scotch brite between the coats

[@KevinBrowder]

arent there dunking methods for this, seem to remember that from machinist youtube

[@ManIkWeet]

When you just receive a Chinese rail, do you have to clean the rail or only the carriage?

[@CanuckCreator]

Depends on how bad it is. Last few ive gotten have been clean cept for a light coat of oil which wipes off

[@ManIkWeet]

@@CanuckCreator Ok sounds great, after wiping off do you lubricate it with something else? (except of course the blue stuff you showed in this video)

[@CanuckCreator]

@@ManIkWeet so after your done bluing the rails. And after the oil soak. Wipe any excess oil off the rail. Then treat the rail as normal and apply grease for the carriage as you usually would.

[@ManIkWeet]

@@CanuckCreator Ok thank you!

[@victorzag4693]

Where did you buy the rails?

[@CanuckCreator]

The vendor CNA On ali express

[@JustCreateYou]

Can you powder coat the rails?

[@mnbytestube]

No, the tolerances are too tight. The bearings wouldn't have room. The carriage would never hit back on. Also the texture of powder coating would be too bumpy even if there was clearance.

[@nirodper]

so are the rails carbon steel or stainless?

[@CanuckCreator]

Carbon steel

[@mtraven23]

high carbon (something hardenable, similar to a ball bearing race).

[@sjuktkul]

I'd like to do this to my custom printer, but i've got 6 linear rails on it - it's a lot of work :D

[@JamesEsau]

I've done one printer with 8 rails, and two with 5 each so far. It's a bit of work but it's not too bad, and IMO it looks really nice
ETA: I commented before watching the whole video. There are some products that will make this process go a little faster. I used Birchwood Casey Super Blue and my rails came out at least as dark in only two coats

[@jeroen9424]

How do you get this in the EU?
Can't find it anywhere

[@Notray5225]

Have you tried super blue?

[@CanuckCreator]

My goto lube for the carriage is usually a white lithium based grease, Remember the oil on the rail isnt a lubricant.
Oh super blue. Thought ya said superlube...no i have not. Most off the shelf cold blues function the same

[@JamesEsau]

I've done several rails now with super blue and it works great. My one printer has at least 1000 hours on the rails and no signs of wear or fading
ETA: based on what I see here, super blue does the job much quicker. I only did two coats on my rails and as far as I can tell from the video, they came out a fair bit darker

[@CanuckCreator]

@@JamesEsau awesome. That's good to hear

[@GoranMilici]

WD40? I KNEW THAT STUFF IS A NO-NO TO USE. IT HAS TOO MANY ADITIVES THAT AREN'T GOOD FOR YOUR RAILS.Sorry didn't realize I have caps on and too lazy to re type. And the blue says it doesn't work on stainless steel.

[@victorlazaro6331]

So, that didn't worked with my MGN12 rails. I guess it doesn't work on chrome rails. 😟

[@CanuckCreator]

Ya if its chromed it wont really take, works best with carbon steel metals, stainless and chromed wont really work out.